


shadows

by Emeka



Series: 100 Fandoms Challenge [10]
Category: Summon Night (Video Games)
Genre: Child Neglect, Crushes, Implied/Referenced Incest, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-23 09:33:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30053421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emeka/pseuds/Emeka
Relationships: Erst Brattern/Ghift Brattern
Series: 100 Fandoms Challenge [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2134272





	shadows

He kneels in the hallway, in front of the door to his brother’s room. It’s late enough in the evening almost the entire house is black and empty. It’ll be his bedtime soon, enforced only if someone remembers. There’s only one person likely to do that and even he doesn’t always remember or care to. The thought of either stings. Maybe that’s why he’s here. If he leaves his room then he’ll see him, and tell him to do what he’s supposed to; and he’ll do his part and gripe, but inside, he’ll be glad.

The light is on inside. It seeps through under the door like a tangible bar of sunlight, it is so bright and yellow. What is he doing with it? Reading? Doing his homework? Or just staring at the ceiling? His brother doesn’t have any indoor hobbies that he knows of. He could be cleaning, or getting ready for bed himself.

The bar of light suddenly splits into two smaller islands. His breath holds. His brother’s shadow, his brother himself, right on the other side of the door. Has he remembered there’s someone he needs to check up on? Moments pass. The door does not open; he is not remembered. But at the moment he can’t be too unhappy. His brother is, in a sense, right here...

He places his hands on it. Alive. It seems nearly as alive as his brother does; it is warm, with a soft texture, completely separate from the cold of this dark hallway. It is attached to his brother, after all. Closing his eyes, he can see his smile, and feel the thumping of his heart. It fills him with a familiar aching love he has always felt for him, that he has never felt for anyone else.

There’s no kind of sound to guess what he is doing by. Maybe he knows he’s out here. Maybe he can feel his hands on his shadow. For a moment there’s a connection between them as they both wait, silently, knowing, then he hears it. A soft flump of clothing falling. The thought of him changing intensifies into a stifling in his rib cage. They have not been in any state of real undress with each other for ages. He can’t imagine how different his bare chest looks now, or what kind of underwear he wears.

Lately even the sight of his bare forearms draws his eye irresistibly. His fingers tense into the wood, as if by doing so he could touch any part of him. This soft warmth under his fingertips must be just the barest hint of him. The shadow wavers, more like a shiver, and even softer than that flump is the sound of cloth over skin.

Then the shadow moves---he follows with his hands---to the side of the door and slips away, leaving only the light again. He waits expectantly for it to return, then nearly jumps when it clicks off, leaving him entirely in the dark. Forgotten once again.

He sits up against door, hoping against hope that the light will turn on again. And then, maybe, he would be the one seen, his body blocking the light from leaving under the gap, and in seeing this posture of devotion, his brother would come out to him and invite him in.


End file.
